VPN providers

[geezer]

Is there any s/w running in Linux/Kubuntu/Ubuntu that can monitor the Connection to my router and display the d/l and u/l speed.

I want the speed readout constantly changing to match the changing rate.

I am trying to determine the best VPN provider for myself and d/l and u/l rates are a factor. If you believe the hype in their web sites they are all the fastest. That's like laiming that all sprinters cross the finish line simultaneously.

Right now the only indication I have is Gkrellm. That shows me the immediate history and is better than nothing.

The one I'm checking now seems to be rather spotty. I have attached 23 screenshots with the VPN disconnected and with the VPN connected. Big difference!

I been using Witopia for a couple of years. They were the highest rated when I signed on, but over the last year or so the performance has been degrading and getting worse. The IPSec connections are fast to connect, but IPLocation shows the IP doesn't change from that without the VPN. I had a chat session with them and the support personnel didn't know what to do. Since I was running Linux, they used the standard excuse - we don't support Linux. Their OpenVPN connections take usually about 3 to 5 seconds to make the connection which I don't really mind and IPLocation gives me the correct IP of the VPN server. Also, I wanted the same VPN for my Android smartphone, but the Witopia service on the smartphone is not very good. About half the time the connection is refused. Sometimes I can edit the settings and get a connection. When I write "edit the setting" I don't really change anything, but save the settings and it may connect.

I've got 30 days on my contract and decided to shop around.

So I've been trying IPVanish for a few days. The setup for OpenVPN was easy since I had OpenVPN installed for Witopia. Simply, wget a file, open the network manager from the icon on the panel, and import the settings downloaded with wget. Edit the setting in connection editor to put in user name and password and save. Click the network icon and click on the VPN desired and it connects. Its OpenVPN so it takes the same amount of time as with Witopia. That is probably going to be constant across providers.

As you can see from the attached screen shots the download amounts take a HUGE hit with the VPN connected VPN window is the bottom window and the router is just above it. The first two attachments are without the VPN (blank VPN window) and the last 2 are with IPVanish. I just took another screenshot of the download. The last attachment. I attached that to be fair since the d/l rate picked up considerably there.

With IPVanish it always starts out the same as without the VPN, but then falls off fast. Now some variation I would expect since their service load is probably varying, but it is huge variation. One download I had abandon because the rate dropped to essentially zero.

The rating website lists some others and I'll have to test them also. If there was some s/w that monitored like Gkrellm does and displayed a running x second rate that would be great.

[SteveRiley]

Three to five seconds is normal for establishing an OpenVPN session. All VPNs incur some throughput reduction from encryption/decryption overhead. Plus, there's quite a lot to think about regarding network design. OpenVPN encapsulates traffic in TCP/UDP-over-TCP or TCP/UDP-over-UDP. Misconfigured MTUs along the path can affect performance. So can running too many clients on a single server -- which can be a problem for free and low-cost providers. In general, in this market, you very much get what you pay for.

[claydoh]

Choosing a VPN provider was fun. Not.

Every site that had a "review" seemed suspect to me, so ratings were worthless. I can't reminder exactly how I finally chose it, but from some reviews, word of mouth, number of servers, and payment options,I chose privateinternetaccess. I haven't checked speed, but I've seldom noticed any serious problems over the past few years, and when it did, switching to a different server fixed it.

They have linux how-how-tos, and even a script that installs the needed network manager packages and access points ,etc.

They also sponsor Freenode



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[oshunluvr]

Kind of a simplistic view, but would speedtest be a good comparison?

I am also using privateinternetaccess. My router has the ability to run OpenVPN client natively so I turn PIA on and off as desired from the router settings. On my list of projects (verrrrryyy long) is to build the scripting necessary (on the router) to assign the VPN to certain machines but not others on my network and to choose which application use the VPN and which don't. Then I won't have to manually switch it back and forth.

Clay: do you find one server consistently better than another with PIA? I've been using us-east exclusively so far...

[claydoh]

I use us-east as well; it has the most servers/ip addresses iirc. Once in a while I switch to us-florida or us-texas but only rarely. For what I normally use that PC for - media center stuff - I don't even notice I am even using a VPN.

I think I have been using PIA for at least 2 years, probably closer to 3.

[geezer]

oshunluvr & claydoh - I've looked at PIA and it looks attractive along with your recommendation.

Looked at the DD-WRT web site and that looks like an attractive way to go - run the OpenVPN right in the router. My Verizon Router is supported, but the details state that the "FIOS port will not work". So I guess that means I cannot use DD-WRT on the router with my FIOS?

The PIA web site doesn't say anything about multiple connections. If I cannot apply DD-WRT to the router, Then I would want to be able to connect my desktop, laptop and android phone. Is that possible or would I have to buy a special contract?

[oshunluvr]

My Verizon Router is supported, but the details state that the "FIOS port will not work". So I guess that means I cannot use DD-WRT on the router with my FIOS?

I would agree that's what that means. The only solution would be to have a FIOS modem instead of a FIOS router and then connect to modem to the WAN port. I don't even know if that's possible. I suppose a second router behind the FIOS one might work. @Here I have a cable provider and use my personal router (ASUS RT-AC66U running ASUSwrt-Merlin) connected to the cable router (actually a modem+switch) with the WAN port. Thus my VPN connections are independant of the modem.

The PIA web site doesn't say anything about multiple connections. If I cannot apply DD-WRT to the router, Then I would want to be able to connect my desktop, laptop and android phone. Is that possible or would I have to buy a special contract?

If the outbound connection to PIA is a single connection (one modem), all the devices behind it connect through the one account. PIA wouldn't know or care how many devices you've got.

If you can't use your router for the connection, you'd have to configure each device separately (openVPN*devices). However, from the PIA FAQ:

How many devices can I connect to the VPN at the same time?
With our service, we understand that you may have a computer and a smartphone device. You can connect up to five (5) devices simultaneously with one (1) account

[oshunluvr]

BTW, to configure a second router behind your FIOS router for PIA:

1. On Verizon router, set the start and end IP addresses:
My network >> Network connections >> Network (Home/Office) >> Settings >>
Start IP address: 192.168.1.200
End IP address: 192.168.1.254

2. Connected Linksys router ("Internet" port) to Verizon router (port "1").

3. Refreshed my wireless networks list. Connected to "dd-wrt" (or whatever the SSID of the second router)

4. Setup tab >> Basic Setup:
WAN Connection Type: Automatic Configuration - DHCP
Network Setup:
Router IP
Local IP Address: 192.168.2.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.1
Local DNS: 0.0.0.0

Network Address Server Settings (DHCP)
DHCP Type: DHCP Server
DHCP Server: Enabled
Static DNS 1: 8.8.8.8
Static DNS 2: 8.8.4.4

Save and Apply Settings

5. Checked to make sure I have internet access.

6. Followed p999999's instruction to set up OpenVPN.
https://www.privateinternetaccess.co...vpn-client-/p1
(Except, I didn't Enable OpenVPN Server)

7. Done!

So basically now I have two routers with internet connection.
If I want a VPN connection, I connect to my Linksys router.
If I don't want a VPN connection, I connect to my Verizon router.

Hope this helps someone.

https://www.privateinternetaccess.co...os-help-solved

[geezer]

Ok - just read through a lot of the DD-WRT web instructions - Finally found a note : coax broadband connections are not supported.

That lets me out of the game.

[geezer]

Just signed up for PIA. Did a download speed test with ookla. 2 trials each for PIA, IPVanish and bare FIOS.

PIA: 14.24 dl/13.17 ul ping:19ms
14.25 dl/13.08 ul

IPV: 13.97 dl/12.86 ul ping:19ms
14.00 dl/12.85 ul

Bare FIOS: 14.93 dl/13.75 ul ping: 9ms
14.95 dl/13.72 ul

So the ookla speed tests didn't really differentiate between the 2 VPNs. For both IPV and PIA the dl and ul speeds came in very close to bare FIOS.

I kind of expected that since my observations of the VPN providers I have used is that for downloads (and up loads) they are nearly transparent in the short term, during the first 10 sec to 15 sec of either operation. After that initial burst Witopia and IPV both dropped off significantly and then had radical swings in dl rates. dl rates for Witopia and IPV would drop by an order of magnitude for a few seconds to many seconds and then back up. The average long term rate would thus be much lower than that short term burst. I would hazard a guess that most/some VPN providers in my experience monitor use and throttle back long term dl. That would make sense from their perspective since it would conserve their resources and spread them out over as many customers as possible and since most (almost all?) dl are of small amounts and the dropoff in dl rate would not be noticeable for the vast majority of users.

Of course all of the above is my speculation based on tests dl Kubuntu 15.04 - a significant dl at approximately 1.2 GB and using only GKrellm to observe dl/ul rates.

My very short experience with PIA was very different - the dl rate stayed constant throughout my test dl - I did a dl of Kubuntu 15.04 multiple times for Witopia, PIA and IPV and bare FIOS. PIA and bare Fios were the only tests where the dl rate went up and stayed constant throughout the dl.

I think I shall settle on PIA for the next month and monitor service. If it holds up I'll probably settle on PIA for a longer term contract.

As far as setting up the service both PIA and IPV were pretty easy. PIA was faster - one dl and all of the Open VPN configuration files were contained in a single zip file and with the certificate file. After dl the zip and unpacking, I could simply import the configuration file I wanted for the server desired, edit it, enter the user name and password and I could connect. Easy. IPV was multiple dl, one for each server desired and one for the certificate file. Not a burden by any means. So pretty much of a tie there.

I have downloaded and installed the IPV s/w on my android - it is really nice When I run it it displays a menu of servers to choose from with the ping time. The server with the shortest ping time at the top of the list. Just tap on the server you want and it automatically connects.

I have installed the PIA app on my android and it works almost as easily as the IPV app. At first it tried to automatically select the server. Didn't work. After a minute or so of waiting for the server to respond, I disconnect and select their US-east server. It connected in a few seonds and was good to go. In selecting the desired server manually they displayed latency times, but didn't have any for an of the servers. I picked US-east because it was mentionad by both oshunluvr and claydoh. and I had used for the testing.

I did an Ookla speed test on my android: 37 ms ping, 13.38 dl/12.65 ul

The test was done connected to my wireless router.

Those are respectable numbers considering what I have seen in the past on the andriod.

[Feathers McGraw]

I'm also using PIA, no complaints here!

[oshunluvr]

Here's my speedtests last night, with and without PIA enabled:

[SteveRiley]

dl rates for Witopia and IPV would drop by an order of magnitude for a few seconds to many seconds and then back up. The average long term rate would thus be much lower than that short term burst. I would hazard a guess that most/some VPN providers in my experience monitor use and throttle back long term dl. That would make sense from their perspective since it would conserve their resources and spread them out over as many customers as possible and since most (almost all?) dl are of small amounts and the dropoff in dl rate would not be noticeable for the vast majority of users.

The variation could be explained by how the different VPN providers build their networks, particularly if TCP is the transport protocol. Jitter in the network can play havoc with TCP's sliding window, which will definitely affect throughput. There's also the TCP-over-TCP meltdown issue that can exist in OpenVPN.

[SteveRiley]

Unless you have a VPN

The Internet routes not only around outages, but around censorship, too